


In Which Stiles is Not a Fox (but probably wishes he was)

by whatsthatfor



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Creature Stiles, Selkies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-07
Updated: 2014-05-07
Packaged: 2018-01-23 21:22:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1579976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatsthatfor/pseuds/whatsthatfor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically what it says on the tin - Stiles is a selkie, and he hides his selkie-ness from everyone, but because he frequently smells of seawater and gets distracted, someone figures him out. And they have a HTH. It's adorable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Which Stiles is Not a Fox (but probably wishes he was)

Erica finds the pelt first, sniffing around Stiles’ room when she catches a whiff of seawater that really doesn’t belong. It’s buried under his bed, half wrapped in plastic, and she wonders why she’s never smelled it before. She reaches out tentatively; it’s softer than she would have imagined, and she sits back on her heels for a moment, just petting it. Then she hears the slam of the jeep’s door, Stiles fumbling with the key, a second slam (the front door), and Stiles is stomping up the stairs. She steps back, pushing the fur back under the bed, and settles herself on the bed just in time for Stiles to open the door.

He gapes at her for a moment – his surprise is ridiculous, though, and she glares at him just enough to tell him so.

“Uhm –” he starts, still gaping. “Not that I don’t love you and all, but … what are you doing here?”

Erica sighs, then flops backwards on the bed.

“Derek’s being himself, Boyd is studying, and Isaac is moping about Cora leaving,” she whines, sitting up on her elbows to look at him. “I’m bored.”

“Do I exist for your amusement? What if I have homework? Or a date? Or – ”

“Stiles. Why does it smell like salt in here?” Sweetly, like she’s doing him a favor bringing this up. Stiles gulps.

“Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but if I did, I would …” he trails off. “I have a sore throat? I’ve been gargling salt water. Thrice daily. You should really leave, actually, so you don’t get sick or anything,” he mutters, gesturing towards the door. His eyes dart towards the floor under the bed, and Erica grins.

“Ha! You’re hiding something. Now tell me, or I’ll tell everybody else!”

Stiles looks at her, like he thinks he might still be able to pull one over on her, and she snorts. He sighs.

“How much do you know?” dejected.

“Just that you have something furry under your bed, and it smells like the ocean, and now that I think about it, you always smell a little bit like the ocean, why is that?” Erica grins – she knows she’s won.

Stiles scratches the back of his neck.

“Ah, about that …” his heart rate skyrockets, Erica notices. “I’m not totally human? Like, actually, I’m not at all human. Technically. I mean, half human, I guess? But that doesn’t really have any effect on anything.” Again with the neck scratching.

Erica sighs – this is ridiculous. She tells him this.

“What the hell are you then,” she asks. Impatient, as always. “If you’re going to be my Batman, you don’t get to lie about your super cool magical powers. Unless you’re secretly a Dent, and you’re just going to betray us all and shove our pelts under your bed.”

Erica sits up, back straight, and looks him in the eye. Then her face softens.

“You can tell me, you know,” she says, quietly. “I won’t tell the rest of them, if you don’t want me to. Just tell me, please? Whatever it is, I – it sucks to be alone. I know that.”

Stiles rubs his hand down his face, lingering over his eyes. He looks tired, Erica notes, but not as tired as usual; the bags that are normally deep purple under his eyes have receded, his hands twitch less, even his skin looks better. It’s like looking in a mirror – today, Stiles is her, post Bite; yesterday, she was shoving him a bit too hard and sending him into a wall by accident, and he looked too tired to even say anything about it.

She pats the bed beside her and raises an eyebrow. Stiles takes the seat, curls in on himself, buries his head in his hands.

“I’m a selkie,” he mutters. If she wasn’t a werewolf, she would have missed it completely. She almost missed it now.

“A what.”

“A – y’know what, I changed my mind. I don’t think I should tell you.”

Stiles starts to stand up, and Erica groans. She grabs his wrist, drags him back down to the bed, and stares at him.

“Oh my god, fine! I’m a selkie; that’s what my mother was, too. I can turn into a seal, with this –” he bends down, pulls the pelt from under his bed and into his lap, and buries his fingers in it. “I figured it was a bad idea to tell everyone, since I never told Scott, and y’know he told me about the werewolf thing right when he found out, and I didn’t want him to hate me for lying to him, y’know?”

As he speaks, the words just tumble out. Erica rubs a hand between his shoulder blades, and when he glances up he sees her nodding along. So he keeps babbling.

“And knowing my luck, I bet selkies and werewolves are natural enemies. Like, forget about Fangs v. Fur, it’s all ‘bout wolves verses seals. Natural foes, right there, as soon as Derek finds out he’ll probably kill me. And forget about Deaton; he’d never train me if he knew that I’m a Spark because I’m a selkie. I doubt seal magic is –”

Erica hugs him. Just … hoists him half into her lap like he weighs nothing, and hugs him until he stops talking.

“We’ll go to the beach one of these days. Just the two of us, if you want, and you can show me?” she asks; surprisingly, there’s room for refusal.

Stiles nods numbly, and she squeezes him tighter.

"I mean, it explains a lot - we always wondered why you disappear for hours at a time. We kind of hoped you had a secret girlfriend for a while, and that you were finally over Lydia, but you never smelled like anyone. It didn't even occur to us that you were crazy enough to go to the beach when it's sixty degrees out."

Erica grins, and Stiles sits up.

"Bah. Now that we've had that wonderful heart to heart, can we get on with whatever ... this - " when he says 'this', he gestures at ... all of her, and continues, "is? Why are you in my room? Do none of you know what windows are?"

“Right! I think we should have a movie night. All of us, even Allison and Jackson. It’s summer and I’m getting annoyed not seeing anyone.”

Stiles smiles, and Erica smiles back.


End file.
